Rumor says Bilibili Plans US IPO in Q1, Valued $3B or More

Bilibili is rumored to be going public in the US in the first quarter of 2018, valued at $3 billion to $3.5 billion. Bilibili declined to comment.

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Last October, Bloomberg reported that Bilibili planned to raise at least $200 million and would be worth as much as $1 billion after an IPO in the US. Last July, Chen Rui, chairman of Bilibili, said no video platform in China was profitable and that Bilibili would strive to make a profit after iQIYI.

According to Jiemian.com, a report in October 2017 showed that Bilibili‘s revenue was 736 million yuan in 2016 and its Revenue was 729 million yuan between January and April of 2017. The report predicted Bilibili would break even in 2017.

In terms of income structure, the game agent and combined transportation account for more than 80 percent of its revenue; live broadcasting accounted for 4 percent; advertising sales for 4 percent; and e-commerce sales, BML offline activities, currency revenue and financial income for 10 percent.

Bilibili has been on the move. At the end of December, it established Bilibili Gaming, or BLG. BLG was formed using the existing LPL team, IMay, and will represent Bilibili in the LPL’s S8 season.

In terms of payment, Bilibili announced it would have 29 legitimate licenses in January 2018, but eight would adopt a “payment first” method. “Since 2014, all legal soap operas have no ads and are for free. But pay-to-view has become common in the industry. Many copyright companies want Bilibili to be follow other platforms or they will not cooperate in licensing content,” a spokesperson for the company said. Pay-to-view may bring in more revenue for Bilibili.